Mixed Martial arts has been around since 1993. Although early in the sports lifetime, it was viewed as an overly violent and barbaric sport, thus causing it to be banned in almost every state in the US. In addition, various political campaigns further assisted in seeing the sport banned in multiple states. Although with the creation of the Unified Rules of Sport, MMA has evolved from the no holds barred sport it was marketed as, to a legitimate sport that garnered more popularity than boxing.
However, even with the evolution of the sport, there are still those within the general public who view the sport as a barbaric and overly violent sport, taking away any legitimacy the sport has achieved. Most of this has to do with the fact that there is little general knowledge of the inner workings of mixed martial arts athletes. Thus, through the production of a short documentary film of two aspiring local MMA fighters, this research will use a focus group analysis to determine whether perceptions on mixed martial arts can change based on having a more insider view into the lives of MMA athletes.
Here is a direct link in order to sign up for the study: https://ttucomc.sona-systems.com/default.aspx?p_return_experiment_id=660
This study has been approved by the Human Research Protection Program at Texas Tech University.